Type-writing machine



(NE Model.) 2 Sheets-Sheet 1.

T. J. DOWNING. TYPE WRITING MACHINE.

No. 529,522 Patented Nov. 20, 1894.

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UNITED STATES ATENT tries.

THOMAS J. DOWNING, OF LINCOLN, ILLINOIS.

TYPE-WRITING MACHINE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 529,522, dated November20, 1894.

Application filed uly 22, 1 893.

To aZZ whom, it may concern.-

Be it known that I, THOMAS J. Dowmne, a citizen of the United States,residing at Lincoln, in the county of Logan and State of Illinois,.haveinvented a new and useful Attachment for Typeriting Machines, of whichthe following is a specification.

My invention relates to a trip mechanism for controlling the use of theupper and lower cases in type-writing machines provided with type-barscarrying a plurality of type-faces, and in which the change from onecase to the other is accomplished by the depression of a case key toalter the position of the platen carriage.

My invention is especially designed for application to machines of theRemington type, and it consists in an improvement upon the device setforth in my prior patent, No. 50i,713, dated September 12, 1893.

My present invention contemplates the provision of means whereby thecarriage can be locked permanently in either position (namely, upper orlower case) by the depression of a key-lever which is adapted to bearranged upon the key-board in proximity to the usual keys; one shiftingkey being arranged to throw the carriage from the lower case to theuppercase position, and the other key being adapted to return thecarriage to the first-named position.

Myinvention contemplatesfurthermore the combination with the aboveshifting mechanism of trip mechanism similar to that described in thesaid prior application, which is so constructed that the carriage islocked temporarily in the upper case position upon the depression of theupper-case key, and is released upon the depression of any key or thespace-bar.

Further objects and advantages of this invention will appear in thefollowing description and the novel features thereof will beparticularly pointed out in the appended claims.

In the drawings: Figure l is a vertical central section of atype-writing machine, showing the improved shifting and trip mechanismsapplied thereto in the operative position, the parts being shown in thelower-case position. Fig. 2 is a similar View, a portion of the machinebeing broken away, showing Serial No. 481,204. (No model.)

the parts locked temporarily in the upper-case position. Fig. 3 is asimilar view, showing the parts locked permanently in the upper-caseposition. Fig. 4 is a detail view in perspective of the mechanismembodying my invention detached from the machine.

Similar numerals of reference indicate corresponding parts in allthefigures of the drawings.

1 designates the frame; 2, the key-board; 3, the upper case key; 4, thecarriage; 5, the platen; 6, the bell-crank levers which are connected tothe carriage guide-bar 7, said guidebar being capable of forward andrearward vibration and being straddled by the guidefingers 9 of thecarriage; 10, the link by which the bell-crank lever is connected to theuppercase key lever; 11, the rock-shaft which extends transverselyacross the front of the machine and supports the bell-crank levers; 12,the feed mechanism, and 13 the feed-operating bar which is connected tothe feed lever 14,and to the cross-bar 15 located beneath the key-leversand adapted to be depresd by each key-lever as it is operated; all ofwhich parts are old and common to machines now in general use.

The construction involving my invention, although shown in connectionwith the abovementioned parts of an ordinary type-writing machine, isnot necessarily inseparably connected therewith, but may be used andarranged to cooperate with the corresponding parts of any machine havingthe general characteristics hereinbefore pointed out, namely: avibrating carriage controlled by a case-key.

16 represents a vertical guide-bar arranged at the rear of the machineand provided with a vertical guide-slot 17, in which fits and operatesthe rear end of the slide-bar 18. The front end of this slide-bar ispivotally connected to the lower end of a swinging arm or hanger 19, theupper end of the latter being firmly attached to the rock-shaft 11, andbeing provided with adjustable clamping-jaws 19 connected by a bolt 19whereby the arm or hanger may be adjusted angularly for a purpose to behereinafter explained. An adjustable detent 20, is arranged at the upperend of the guide-slot 17, being secured to the guide-bar by means of aset-screw 21 engaging a slot 22 in the guide-bar, and the-slidebar isprovidedin its upper edge, near its rear end, with a shoulder or notch23, which is adapted to engage the lower end of said detent, theslide-bar being actuated to cause such engagement and being held in theengaged position by a leaf-spring 24:, which is attached to theslide-bar, extends through the guide-slot 17, and bears against thelower end thereof. A coiled spring 25, attached at its rear end to thevertical guide-bar and connected at its front end to a lateral pin, 16,near the front end of the slidebar, serves to draw said slide-bar to therear or return it to its normal position when the shoulder or notch 23is disengaged from the detent.

As will be seen by reference to the drawings, the slide-bar extendsbeneath the trans verse depressible feed-bar 13, the interval being suchthat when the slide-bar is caused to ascend by the engagement of itsshoulder or notch with the detent,the upper edge thereof is in the pathof the feed-bar in positionto be engaged by the latter when depressed bythe-operation of a key-lever or the space-bar.

26 represents a trip-slidearranged beneaththe slide-bar, fitting at itsfront end in a keeper 27, depending from the slide-bar, and provided atits rear-end with a loop or yoke28, which extends over the upper edge ofthe slide-bar and isadapted to operate slidably in a notch 29 of theslide-bar. Said notch is provided with a convexly-curved floor, wherebyas the loop or yoke is moved from one end thereof to the other, it iscaused to ascend; and a pressure spring 30, carried by theslide-bar,bears upon the upper edge of the trip-slide to normally hold the loop oryoke 28 infengage'ment withthe depressed terminal portions of the notch.When the trip-slide is in its normal position, as shown in Figs. 1 and2, the loop or yoke 28 is located at the rear end of the notch 29,directly beneath and in the path of the depressible bar 13, upon theelevation of the slide-bar to the locked 08mm; shown in Fig. 2, whereby,upon the depression of the bar 13 by the manipulation ofa key orthespace-bar, it contacts with the loop or yoke and hence depresses anddisengagesthe'slide-bar, thus allowing the latter to be returned by thespring 25 to its normal position.

From the above description it will be understood that uponthe depressionof the upper-case key the rocking movement imparted to the shaft vll bythe bell-crank lever, is communicated through the hanger 19 to theslidebar, thu s. drawing the latter forwardly and causing its shoulderto engage the detent, and at the same time disposing t he yoke of thetrip-slide (the relative positions of the slidebar and trip-slideremaining unchanged) in the path of the depressible bar 13, whereby,when a key is struck an upper-case letter is printed and simultaneouslythe slide-bar is disengaged from the 'detent and returns to thelower-case position.

The above-described portion of my invention comprises the means for'temporari1y looking the carriage inthe upper-case position, and isadapted for use when only a single upper-case letter, figure, orpunctuation mark is required at a time; but when it is necessary towrite continuously in the upper-case characters, a permanent means forlocking the carriage in the upper-case position must be employed.

To accomplish the above I employ shiftinglevers 31 and 32, the formerbeing a simple lever of angular or bell crank form and being provided atthe upper end of its shorter arm 33 with an open slot 34 to engage alateral stud 35 upon thetrip-slide 26; and the lever 32, being compoundin its construction and connectedto the slide-bar and trip-slide in sucha manner that when such parts are in the permanently lockedpositionproducied by the operation/of the lever .3l,th ey maybe returnedto theirnormal positionsbya depression ofsaid lever 32. The key-bearingmember 36, of the lever 32, is fulcrumed, by means of a pin 37', toasuit'able transversely-disposed supporting-bar; 3.8, suchpinalsoforming the pivot of the lever .31, and extends in rear of itspivotal point, as shown at,39..r 6

10 represents the tripping member of the shifting-lever 32, which isfulcrumed upon the bar 38, in rear of the extension 39 of thekeybearingmemberof the lever, and is connected to said key-bearing member by meansof a retracting spring 41. The tripping member 40 is provided with avertical closed slot 42, through which pass the slide-barandtrip-slide,the latter being provided contiguous to thetripping member with alateral pin 43, and connection between the key-bearing member 36 and thetripping meinber 40, is effected by means of an arm 44, carried by thelatter and extending forwardly over the free end of the extension 39.The depression of the front end of the compound lever causes thetrippingmember to tip rearwardly, the retraction spring 41 returning the. partsto their normal positions upon the release of the keybearing member.ltwill be noted that mo tion is communicated from the upper-case key,through the described operating connections, directly to theslide-bar,'.whereby the forward motion thereof is accomplished withoutdisturbing the relative positions of the slide-bar and trip-slide, butthe shiftinglever 31 is connected to the trip-slide, and through thelatter to the slide-bar, and hence, upon the depression of theupper-case shifting-lever 31, the trip-slide and slide-bar are movedforwardly until the latter is checked and locked, when the former movesindependently of the latter and the loop or yoke 28 engages the frontend of the notch 29, as shown in Fig. 3. With the parts in thisposition, the loop or yoke 28 is out of alignment with the depressiblefeed-bar l3, and hence upon the-depression of such bar by themanipulation of a key-lever or space-bar, itfwill descend into the rearportion of the notch,

and will not affect the adjustment of the trip mechanism. Thus, by themanipulation of the upper case shifting-lever the carriage is lockedpermanently in the upper-case position.

Reference to Fig. 3 will show that when the parts are locked permanentlyin the uppercase position, the trip-pin 43 is contiguous to the rearside of the trip member 40 of the compound lever or lower-caseshifting-lever 32, and hence upon the depression of such lever thetripping member will force the tripslide rearwardly until the loop oryoke 28 engages the rear end of the notch 29, and at the same time theupper end of the slot 42 in the tripping member will engage a beveledshoulder 45, upon the upper edge of the slide-bar or the straight upperedge of the slide-bar, thereby depressing the latter sufficiently todisengage it from the detent 20, thereby allowing the slide-bar to bereturned by the spring 25 to its normal position.

It should be understood that the slide-bar must be so adjusted to theshifting mechanism thatit will move from one position to another toaccommodate itself to the upper and lower case letters, figures, andpunctuation marks, the, permanently or temporarily without hindering theoperation of the otherportions of the machine, and the extent ofmovement of the slide-bar, or the points at which it is stopped, must besuch as to agree accurately with the placement of the upper and lowercase characters, in order to preserve an accurate alignment. The lostmotion caused by the wearing of the shoulder or the detent 20 may becompensated in various ways; a simple arrangement being the angularadjustment of the hanger 19 upon the rockshaft. Furthermore, theslide-bar may be formed of relatively-adjustable sections of anypreferred construction which, however, I have not illustrated in thedrawings. It should be understood, furthermore, that while I havedescribed the operation of the slide-bar as being horizontallyreciprocated by the manipulation of the case key, shiftinglevers, &c.,the disposition of the parts may be varied to suit the type of machineto which the mechanism is applied, and hence I do not desire to limitmyself to the specific construction and arrangement shown and described.

In the drawings the slide-barand trip-slide have been shown disposed ata considerable interval, but in practice such interval may be reduced toan extent consistent with free manipulation. That portion of themechanism by which the key-levers 31 and 32 are connected to theslide-bar and trip-slide may be, and preferably is, arranged beneath thebasket instead of in rear of the I same, as shown in the drawings,although the latter arrangement may be adopted without detracting in anyway from the operativeness of the device. It will be understood,furthermore, that the mechanism is capable of operating as describedwithout the use of the shoulder 45, the only advantage in the latterbeing that a more positive depression of the slidebar is attained.

Having described my invention, what I claim is 1. In a machine of theclass described, the combination with shifting mechanism for controllingthe position of the carriage, automatic locking devices to secure saidshifting mechanism temporarily in the uppercase position, trippingmechanism connected to the key-levers and arranged in operative relationwith said locking devices, and an adjustable part or member adapted,when in its normal position, to coact with the tripping mechanism todisengage the members of the locking devices and release the shiftingmechanism to enable the latter to return to the lower-case position, ofshifting levers connected to said adjustable part or member and adaptedrespectively to move the same out of its normal position to enable theshifting mechanism to be locked permanently in the upper-case positionand into said normal position to enable the shifting mechanism to belocked temporarily in the upper-case position, said shiftinglevers beingprovided with key-bearing terminals, substantially as specitied.

2. In a machine of the class described, the combination with shiftingmechanism for controlling the carriage, a slide-bar connected to saidshifting mechanism and provided with automatic locking devices, and atripslide slidably mounted upon the slide-bar,of a simple upper-caseshifting-lever operatively connected to the trip-slide, the latter beingcapable of limited movement upon the slidebar, and a compound lower-caseshifting-lever operatively connected to the slide-bar and trip-slidewhereby the former is disengaged from the locking devices and the latteris returned to its normal position with relation to the former,substantially as specified.

3. The combination with shifting mechanism, of a slide-bar connected tothe shifting mechanism and provided with automatic locking devices, andan elongated notch having depressed terminals a trip-slide carried bythe slide-bar and provided with a yoke which operates in a notch of theslide-bar, said depressible bar operativeiy connected to the keyleversand adapted to engage said yoke when the latter is in its normalposition, an upper-case shitting-lever operatively con nected to thetrip-slide, a spring for returning the slide-bar to its normal positionwhen released,and a lower-case shifting-lever having a tripping memberconnected to the slidebar and trip-slide to disengage the former andreturn the latter to its normal position with relation thereto,substantially as specified.

4. The combination with shifting mechanism, ot' a slide-bar connected tothe shifting mechanism and provided with a notch 29 and a shoulder 45, aretraction spring to return the slide-bar to its normal position, alocking device to engage the slide-bar in its upper position, atrip-slide carried by the slide-bar and having a loop or yoke fitting insaid notch 29, the slide-bar being provided with a pressure spring 30,an upper-case shifting-lever operatively connected to the tripslide, anda lower-case shifting-lever provided with a tripping member having aslot which embraces the slide-bar and trip-slide, said tripping memberbeing adapted when operated to engage the shoulder 45, and a trip-pincarried by the trip-slide to return theparts to their normal positions,substantially as specified.

5. The combination with shifting mechanism, a slide-bar provided withautomatic locking devices, a trip-slide carried by the slide-bar andcapable of limited movement thereupon, and tripping mechanism, of anupper-case shifting-lever operatively connected to the trip-slide, and alower-case shifting-lever comprising a tripping member provided withmeans to engage said slide-bar and trip-slide, a key-bearing memberprovided with an extension which engages an arm of said tripping member,and a retraction spring connecting said members, substantially asspecified.

In testimony that I claim the foregoing as my own I have hereto affixedmy signature in the presence of twowitnesses.

TI-IOS. J. DOWNING.

Witnesses:

E. O. Moos, L. H. ZETER.

